Red Sox Beat: Crash course for Doubront

Tuesday

Apr 8, 2014 at 10:37 PMApr 10, 2014 at 7:24 AM

By Eric AvidonDaily News staff

BOSTON — Felix Doubront looked fantastic for two innings.He walked the first batter he faced, but then set down the next six, and heading to the third inning seemed in complete command, having thrown just 21 pitches.And then he crumbled.First, the visiting Rangers cuffed him around Fenway Park, hitting balls over and off the Green Monster, down into the corner past Pesky's Pole, and covering plenty of ground in between. And then Doubront lost command.He'd allowed five runs by the time the damage against him was done, but Burke Badenhop wasn't much relief. So one night after the Red Sox got a feel-good win over the Rangers to put their three-game losing streak in the past, the Red Sox got outslugged 10-7."I can't explain what happened," said Doubront. "I was feeling really good during the first two innings, and the whole day, my bullpen. It's one of those days when you feel good and start doing too much. ... I was trying to do too much."The third inning began with a crack. The sound of the ball hitting Robinson Chirinos' bat left no doubt where it was headed. It got out of Fenway quickly, over the Monster for a 1-0 Texas lead.Then came a groundout, and the sense that Doubront simply made a single bad pitch.But Shin-Soo Choo singled, and after a strikeout, Prince Fielder doubled to drive in Choo, Adrian Beltre singled to bring in Fielder, Alex Rios singled, and Donnie Murphy doubled to drive in Beltre.It was 4-0, at which point Doubront stopped throwing strikes. He walked Michael Choice to load the bases, then walked Chirinos to force in Rios.Which ended Doubront's night. He threw 38 pitches in the third, nearly twice as many as he'd thrown in the first two innings.Badenhop got Wilson to hit into a fielder's choice to end the inning, saving Doubront from giving up more than the five runs he did. He lasted 2 2/3 innings, gave up six hits, struck out two, and walked one."(Doubront) was just a little bit off," said catcher A.J. Pierzynski. "He walked the leadoff guy in the first and made pitches to get out of it. Heck, the second inning he was real sharp. I don't know what happened in the third. He came out and was just a little bit off. He gave up the leadoff homer and things kind of spiraled out of control."No rhyme or reason for it."What makes Doubront's performance more maddening than it would be if taken on its own is how good he can be on some nights.There were starts during the regular season last year like the one against the Mariners on July 10 and allowed only a single run in seven innings. Perhaps his best performance came on June 18 against the Rays, when he shut out Tampa Bay for eight innings, struck out six and walked none.He then pitched seven innings in relief during last year's postseason, and gave up a single run.But instead of serving as a launching point for Doubront to blossom this season, it bled into a mediocre first start and then Tuesday night's disaster."There's probably been two innings where (his confidence) hasn't shown up," said manager John Farrell, "the third inning tonight, and that one inning down in Baltimore. I think he's taken the mound aggressively. He's attacked and challenged the strike zone, and yet tonight the third inning was obviously not the way it was intended."To be fair, Doubront wasn't the only culprit.The Red Sox lineup continued to hit horribly with men on base until it was too late. After batting .278 with runners in scoring position in 2013, they were hitting .175 before Tuesday night.They actually wound up a respectable 5-for-14, but the bigger story was that they hit into five double plays. They got the leadoff batter on in each of the first seven innings, and five times a twin-killing destroyed any potential rally.The exceptions were the fourth, seventh, and ninth innings, which happen to be when the Red Sox scored their runs.Dustin Pedroia doubled to lead off the fourth and scored on a single by Mike Napoli.Three innings later Napoli led off with a single, moved to second on a single by Grady Sizemore, and after reaching third on a flyout scored on an infield hit by Pierzynski. Jackie Bradley Jr. then doubled off the Monster to drive in Sizemore and Pierzynski.In the ninth, Pierzynski led off with a single, moved to second on a single by Bradley, and scored on a single by Jonny Gomes. After Pedroia struck out, David Ortiz doubled to drive in Bradley and Gomes.But Napoli struck out to end the game.Beyond the rally killing double plays, though Badenhop was able to prevent the three men he inherited from scoring, the Rangers tagged him for three runs in the fourth inning and one more in the fifth.But Tuesday's loss began with Doubront, and the ‘L' will live on his record.Eric Avidon can be reached at 508-626-3809 or eavidon@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @ericavidon.